There is a rapture on the lonely shore
by Hotpoint
Summary: Eleanor Lamb returns to Rapture, Jack Ryan reluctantly tags along
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own Bioshock, no infringement is intended and no profit is to be made. When you get right down to it I'm not really worth suing anyway unless you want a share of an underpaid civil servants wages and it just wouldn't be worth the hassle trust me._

* * *

_"There is a rapture on the lonely shore, _

_By the deep sea, _

_And music in its roar"_

_**Lord Byron**_

* * *

**The Surface - Atlantic Ocean – December 1968**

Eleanor Lamb stared off towards the horizon and thought about her father. For the North Atlantic in winter it was unusually calm and the clear skies and sunshine were keeping the temperature above freezing at least but that wouldn't last long this close to Iceland once the sun started to set she knew.

Not blessed with a diving costume of their own the girls were already starting to complain, the wonder of being outside soon eclipsed by the occasional chill breeze coming from the north. 'We're drifting Eleanor' her mother's voice close-by broke her train of thought. 'One does hope that you have a plan that doesn't revolve around waiting to be rescued because the chances of that are frankly...'

'Ahoy there' a man's voice calling out to them interrupted Sofia Lamb mid-sentence.

'Tell me mother' Eleanor spoke up, turning towards her, 'do you ever tire of being wrong?' she asked smugly.

'Being blessed by serendipity is not praiseworthy because merely being lucky is not an attribute that is earned' Sofia Lamb responded, her previously condescending tone replaced by annoyance.

'Whatever you say Mother' Eleanor replied, standing up and turning around to see a motor-yacht approaching them. 'Ahoy yourself' she called out, waving to the man atop the craft which was edging towards Sinclair's appropriated escape pod.

'Interesting outfit' the man said as he brought his boat up alongside them. His voice had to be the deepest Eleanor had ever heard and it was coarse too like he had been smoking sixty cigarettes a day for longer than his relatively youthful appearance would indicate he had been alive.

'I was diving a wreck' Eleanor lied. From his accent she guessed he was American or perhaps Canadian.

'Strange' the man replied. 'The only thing down there I know of in this part of the ocean is Rapture' he said, smiling. 'And from the looks of things they've really changed the recruiting policy on Big Daddies since the last time I was there' he added with evident amusement.

Eleanor and her mother looked at each other for a second before turning back towards the stranger. 'Who are you?' Sofia asked before her daughter could.

'Jack Ryan' the man replied eliciting a look of more than mild surprise from both women. 'You're lucky Brigid made me stay out here a while rather than hauling her back home straight away because I honestly didn't expect you to make it' he told them, taking up a rope to throw over to the escape pod. 'If you secure that to something I'll tow you to the Lighthouse and then I'll decide whether or not to throw _her_ back in the ocean tied to a large stone block' he said, pointing at Sofia Lamb and looking none too pleased about the fact she was there along with the others. There couldn't be too many unspliced, six-foot tall blond women in Rapture for him not to be right about her identity based on what Brigid had said about her he reasoned.

When they arrived twenty minutes later at what superstitious fishermen called the "Phantom Lighthouse" Jack Ryan tied up his boat alongside a similar one already there and then helped Eleanor, her mother and the girls onto the structure. 'If you head inside you'll find something to eat and drink' he told them. 'Don't get too comfortable though, we're not staying long' he said.

'He smells like Daddy' one of the girls said as she got near Jack.

'Damn pheromones' Jack complained. 'I've got too many daughters already I'm not in the market for any more. Shoo' he said, waving her away. Brigid had been unable to do much about the musky smell he had now been forced to live with for eight years but at least she was able to salvage his voice enough that it was merely an unusually deep bass rather than sounding like a whale.

'You're mean' the little girl he had tried to wave away told him.

'The ability of those words to affect me died the fiftieth time I refused to raise an allowance' Jack replied. 'If you ask the nice lady inside to make you hot chocolate she will' he informed her and the others. 'There might even be some marshmallows left assuming the others haven't already eaten them all' he added. 'And don't run, it's slippery' he called out after them as the girls suddenly tore off up the stone steps leading towards the huge doorway in the great art-deco lighthouse.

'Will they be alright?' Eleanor asked.

'Brigid is already in there along with the other girls she helped rescue' Jack replied. 'And a black guy I just met who is probably more out of his depth up here trying to help her keep them under control than he was down there' he joked, pointing downwards towards where Rapture lay.

Eleanor looked the stranger up and down, noting the chains tattooed on his wrists. 'You're really him' she said in wonder. 'You're a legend you know.'

'So Brigid told me after I finished berating her for going ahead with her half-assed rescue plan and leaving me and the girls behind none-the-wiser as to where she'd gone' Jack Ryan replied. 'She told me all about you as well' he added, glaring at Sofia Lamb.

'Everything I did, I did for the greater good' Sofia defended herself and her actions.

'What is it about Rapture that brings out ideologically blinkered derangement in people' Jack asked rhetorically. 'It's either libertarian lunacy or collectivist claptrap' he growled, his low, rumbling voice making that growl impressive indeed. 'Here's a newsflash for you' he continued. 'If your beliefs lead you to the conclusion that it's okay to brainwash and exploit children then your beliefs are immoral bullshit, case closed' he said with certainty.

'A simplistic, irrational viewpoint' Sofia responded. 'If you give me the opportunity to explain my reasoning then I'm sure...'

'I wasn't bluffing about you, the ocean and the weight' Jack interrupted her.

'Perhaps we should broach the subject again at a later date when you're more open to debating the complex issues more calmly' Sofia Lamb wisely opted not to press the matter any further for now.

Eleanor couldn't help but be intrigued by the man in front of her. In his own way he was as much, if not more of an artificial creation than she was but he had also broken the chains of those who would be his master and chosen his own path. 'I didn't know how old you'd look by now, or even if you'd still be alive' she said.

'The rapid aging stopped when I was physiologically twenty-two or so' Jack explained. 'Still got a few decades left in me yet' he told her. 'Long enough to see my girls grow up' he said, clearly pleased by that prospect. 'We should get going before all the hot chocolate is gone' he advised before pausing to look around. 'I can't believe I'm back here' he said, a faraway look in his eyes. 'Took me five years to stop having nightmares about it' he admitted, leading off.

The inside of the lighthouse was spacious enough to hold all the girls plus piles of crates containing supplies Brigid Tenenbaum had brought with her when she first arrived some weeks ago now. The girls Eleanor had rescued were already mixing with the larger number who had been freed from their fate as Little Sisters by Subject Delta and Subject Sigma and they were mostly sat around on the spiral staircases leading down to the bathysphere drinking mugs of hot chocolate or occasionally soup being prepared in great number by two harried looking scientists.

'You found them, I knew you would' Brigid Tenenbaum said, looking up at Jack. 'You are always so reliable' she told him smiling.

'And _you're_ still a long way from being forgiven' Jack replied flatly. 'How are you holding up Chuck?' he asked the man standing beside her.

'Charles Milton Porter, formerly Big Daddy "Subject Sigma" rolled his eyes as the mug of hot chocolate he had barely finished preparing was immediately snatched from his hands by an eager little girl. Until Tenenbaum could try and fix his own vocal chords he would be mute, his only ability to communicate resting in gestures and the pad and pencil now hanging around his neck by a piece of string.

'_He_ smells like Daddy too' the girl who had said the same of Jack to Eleanor told her, indicating Porter. 'He's not mean though' she added, sticking her tongue out at Jack who did likewise in retaliation.

'I did wonder where Doctor Tenenbaum had gotten to' Eleanor commented.

'I was busy with a mission of my own' Tenenbaum replied, dropping a marshmallow into the mug of hot chocolate she was holding and passing it to another girl. 'Excuse me Charles' she said to the other scientist with her, 'there is something I need to do' she said walking across to Sofia Lamb and to the surprise of everybody but Jack slapped her hard across the face.

Sofia Lamb tried to keep her dignity and ignored the pain in her reddening cheek. 'He who is without sin should cast the first stone Brigid' she told the German. 'You created the first Little Sisters I merely copied your work.'

'Fortunately for me that verse comes from the New Testament and I was born and raised Jewish' Tenenbaum replied before slapping Lamb equally hard on the other side of her face using her other hand.

'That's enough Brigid' Jack told her sternly though she could tell by the twinkle in his eyes he didn't exactly disapprove.

Sofia turned to her daughter. 'Nice to see you leap to the defence of your mother' she said disparagingly.

'It's hard not to sympathise with the sentiment Doctor Tenenbaum just forcefully expressed I'm afraid' Eleanor replied with a shrug. 'For myself if father had not set me such a good example as regards mercy then I might have killed you' she admitted.

'Alright show's over, get back to your drinks please girls' Jack said loudly, realising that they were now being stared at by at least a dozen girls all wearing shocked expressions at the behaviour of the adults.

'She must be a very bad lady for Momma Tenenbaum to hit her like that' one of the former Little Sisters opined loudly.

'Out of the mouths of babes' Jack wryly observed. 'If you get the urge to slug her with my wrench take her outside where they can't see okay?' he advised Tenenbaum semi-seriously. 'And on that note although it's lower down my list of grievances I'm not happy at you taking my wrench either' he noted, crossing his arms. 'I realised straight away where you'd gone when I found it missing' he told her.

'I hoped it might bring me luck' Tenenbaum replied. 'Perhaps it did?' she wondered.

Jack sighed. 'Chuck can you watch the girls while I talk to Brigid outside?' he requested.

Porter nodded then pointed to his throat.

'Good point' Jack conceded. 'Can you help him keep the little hellions in line?' he asked Eleanor. 'Above all don't let them play with the bathysphere' he advised.

'I can do that' Eleanor agreed. 'Who is that man though?' she queried as a whisper, indicating Porter.

'Charles Milton Porter, the man who invented the computer that runs Rapture' Tenenbaum explained quietly. 'He was turned into an Alpha Series Big Daddy by Andrew Ryan after a rival forged evidence that he was an ally of Fontaine' she said. 'He is a good man as well as being a genius with electronics.'

Eleanor looked at Porter once again, An Alpha Series like her father had been, that meant if only he had lived he could have been turned back into a man too she thought sadly as Jack Ryan and Tenenbaum went back outside.

With the girls all now having a drink and finding himself with nothing to do for now Porter looked quizzically across to Eleanor and her mother and frowned. Taking up his pad and pencil he wrote something on it and held it up to them. "Hello, I'm Charles. So what's your story?" it said in very neat handwriting.

Eleanor laughed. 'How long have you got?' she asked him.

Porter scribbled on the pad again and turned it around to show her, smiling. "What else am I going to do? Sing the girls to sleep?" he had written.

Once outside Jack sat down on the stone steps outside the lighthouse doorway and beckoned Tenenbaum to take a seat beside him which she did. They started to talk and were soon lost in a conversation which began with Jack being angry but slowly became less heated as it went on.

Tenenbaum couldn't say how long it was before Eleanor came bursting out of the lighthouse at high speed, nearly tripping over them as she did, but she was more than a little embarrassed at being discovered with Jack kissing her not that the teenager in the diving suit seemed to pay attention to that or even notice. 'I have to go back!' Eleanor exclaimed, thrusting Porter's notepad at them.

Jack took the pad and tried not to look too annoyed at being interrupted. Unlike Brigid he wasn't remotely embarrassed by the age gap between himself and the woman that shared his life and his bed but he knew full-well that she still squirmed whenever anyone but the girls caught them being affectionate with each other. 'What's this supposed to mean?' he asked Eleanor.

'Just read it' Eleanor replied. 'I have to go back' she said once more.

Tenenbaum took the pad from Jack and read it herself. 'You just need to trigger the process which resurrected him the first time' she said, reading the last sentence aloud.

'The range didn't matter' Eleanor said excitedly. 'I thought he was too far away from the last Chamber he passed by for it to work but that wouldn't matter to the _first_ Vita Chamber I brought him back in' she said. 'His memories, everything that he was is still stored as data in the system and it'll be downloaded into his mind as soon as it's created' she continued. 'I didn't know Rapture was so integrated with all the Chambers connected up that way' she told them. 'I can save him' she gushed. 'He'll be the same man he was just before we left Rapture with all the same memories and experiences.'

'Are you talking about Subject Delta?' Tenenbaum checked.

'My father yes' Eleanor confirmed. 'He's a good man, a decent man and I need to save him like he saved me' she insisted.

'She wants to return to Rapture to save a Big Daddy' Tenenbaum told Jack just in case he hadn't realised that by now.

'And that'll happen when hell freezes over' Jack said with finality, and I'm not talking about frozen pipes in Rapture he thought to himself.

* * *

_**Note from the author:**_

_Got bored, played Bioshock 2, had an idea for a story... _


	2. Chapter 2

_I don't own Bioshock, no infringement is intended and no profit is to be made. When you get right down to it I'm not really worth suing anyway unless you want a share of an underpaid civil servants wages and it just wouldn't be worth the hassle trust me._

* * *

**Phantom Lighthouse – Atlantic Ocean - December 1968**

'Rapture is coming apart, the systems are failing, I can't waste any time and I need you to activate the bathysphere' Eleanor told Jack, still trying to persuade him to help. 'It's keyed to your genetic code, everyone else is locked out' she noted then paused. 'How did _you_ use it anyway Doctor Tenenbaum?' she queried.

'I had a few of Jack's blood and tissue samples with me' Tenenbaum explained. Getting into Rapture via the lighthouse bathysphere had been much easier than getting back out of there even with prior experience of escaping the city.

'If you need my help to go get yourself killed then I'll have to decline' Jack told the teenager. 'You're not much older than some of my girls and I don't want you on my conscience.'

'I'll be perfectly safe, there's not much down there that is a threat to me' Eleanor replied. 'This is something I have to do' she stated. 'And... if I need to resort to violence I've got a big syringe and can take some of your blood by force' she declared.

Jack looked at the girl. 'You might not want to take that tone with me Missy' he warned.

'Is this where you threaten to put me over your knee like a recalcitrant child?' Eleanor replied sarcastically.

'Something like that' Jack replied evenly and raising his left hand it suddenly became as fire, a blue-hot flame dancing in the palm of his hand. Moments later, the fire vanishing, his hand turned blue instead, icicle-like spikes covering his clenched fist. Finally his hand changed once again, electricity now arcing between his fingers for a few seconds before returning to normal.

'Level Three Plasmids' Eleanor said. 'Incinerate, Winter Blast and Electro Bolt' she continued. 'Am I supposed to be impressed?' she asked pretending to be less so than she actually was.

'I'd hope enough that you don't think siphoning me would be easy' Jack replied. 'Have you also considered that you'd also be fighting me, injuring me, for just trying to _protect_ _you_ from getting hurt or killed yourself?' he asked rhetorically.

Eleanor thought about that, father would certainly not approve she was sure. 'Please' she now begged, changing tactic. 'Haven't you ever done the right thing even when it wasn't the smart one?' she asked knowingly.

'Oh she's good' Jack told Tenenbaum. 'Masha does the manipulation better but she's good' he had to admit.

Brigid Tenenbaum looked at him. 'I know what you are going to do even if you don't yet' she said.

'I can't let her go back down to Rapture on what's probably a fool's errand Brigid' Jack responded. 'Even if she breaks out the waterworks it's not going to happen.'

'Perhaps then she is a Big Sister in need of protection like the Little Ones were' Tenenbaum suggested, looking directly at him, eyes locked on his own.

Jack's own eyes widened. 'You're not suggesting I go down there with her are you' he asked nonplussed.

'You were prepared to return to Rapture to rescue me and if not for the signal I sent saying I would not be much longer and to wait for me on the surface you would have.'

'Because I _love_ you, I only just _met_ her' Jack replied.

'You risked your life for many girls you did not know' Tenenbaum reminded him.

'Eight year olds are cute and tug at your heartstrings, teenagers are just a pain in the ass' Jack retorted. 'No offence meant, mine damn well are at least' he told Eleanor. Having the Beatles blaring out of the gramophone every hour of the day and night and resisting the urge to set every teenage boy that came calling on fire was aging him faster than genetic engineering ever could.

'I don't need anyone's protection' Eleanor said, pouting.

'Right, because you're not going back down to Rapture' Jack agreed.

Eleanor was becoming increasingly annoyed at being treated like a child, for one thing in chronological terms she was _older_ than Jack Ryan even if nobody would guess that by looking at him. 'If I have to I'll just collect my helmet and swim down' she declared.

'Just how spliced-up _are_ you?' Jack responded. 'I guess we know which side of the family tree you get your sanity from.'

Becoming extremely angry in an instant Eleanor tried to slap him but he caught her hand as it headed towards him preventing it making contact. He was fast with a hell of a grip. 'Sport Boost?' she asked him.

'Tonics one and two' Jack confirmed. 'And if I _had_ let you connect with that you'd have hurt your hand because I'm rocking Armoured Shell one and two as well' he added.

'And you say _I'm_ supposed to be the spliced-up one' Eleanor observed wryly.

'_I'm_ still sane enough not to want to go back to Rapture and that makes one of us' Jack replied with a smug expression as he released her hand.

'You can't stop her Jack, she can teleport away from you if she wants' Tenenbaum told him.

'Brigid, I was angry at you because you left me and the girls and could have gotten yourself killed' Jack replied. 'If I go on and do the same thing then I'll just be a damn hypocrite.'

'The difference is I know you'll come back' Tenenbaum replied calmly.

'How can you _possibly_ know that?' Jack asked reasonably.

'Because you are not just a born survivor you are a _made_ one' Tenenbaum told him. 'You are as near to perfect as Suchong and I could design you.'

'They told me I was born to do great things' Jack said quietly to himself before looking at Eleanor. 'I know that look in your eyes, there isn't a damn thing I could say that could talk you out of this insanity is there?'

'No' Eleanor confirmed.

'Shit' Jack swore. 'Get the children to land and make sure her mother doesn't cause any trouble' he told Tenenbaum. 'If you take both boats you can transport them all, I guess Chuck should be able to figure out how to drive the one I came in' he continued. 'I'll keep a radio and signal when we need collecting.'

'I don't need your help' Eleanor stated.

'And if that turns out to be true this excursion will end up a lot less bloody for me than the last time did' Jack replied. 'I'll have to get my stuff from the yacht.

'Stuff?' Eleanor asked.

'I thought I might have to rescue Brigid, this time I came much better prepared for the eventuality' Jack replied. 'And I'll need my lucky wrench back' he told Tenenbaum.

Stood next to the bathysphere half an hour later Eleanor looked Jack Ryan up and down. 'What is that you're wearing' she asked.

'It's called a flak jacket' Jack replied. 'There are ceramic plates in there that'll stop a pistol bullet' he explained. 'It's heavy but with the gene tonics it doesn't slow me down too much' he said.

'And under it?' Eleanor queried.

'It's a Siebe-Heinke Dry Suit' Jack told her. 'Other than getting shot my other abiding memory of Rapture is being cold and wet' he said with distaste, checking his rubber soled combat boots were done up properly before opening the crate he had carried in.

Tenenbaum moved in and helped him put on the rest of his gear and there was a lot of it. A belt with a divers knife and a custom holster to hold his upgraded .38 revolver on it went on first followed by a shoulder holster carrying a .45 automatic that fired the same bullets as his well-maintained Thompson Sub-machinegun. He then put on a harness holding spare ammunition for his weapons and which also secured his pump-action shotgun and crossbow to his back and finally he hung a satchel for other items such as the small number of EVE hypos he still owned and some chocolate bars around his neck to rest under his left arm.

'I'm glad I took a leak before putting all this stuff on' Jack said with a chuckle as he picked up his Thompson.

'My Liege, your sword' Tenenbaum said with a smile, handing Jack his wrench which he looked at for a moment before securing it to his belt.

'No token from my Lady?' Jack replied, smiling back at her.

Tenebaum shook her head. 'I could give you my handkerchief but I used it to wipe the nose of one of the Little Ones' she apologised.

'I'll settle for a kiss then' Jack told her. 'You can do better than that' he said in reproach when she kissed him on the cheek.

'But I look terrible' she said. Her clothes had not survived Raptures damp climate very well and she hadn't dyed her hair in weeks leaving it mostly grey. She tried to look younger for him but without makeup she doubted she even looked her actual age of forty-four. It had been bad enough at first being with a man who looked like he was in his early-to-mid twenties when she herself was still only in her late thirties but somehow the gap felt larger now even if Jack thought she was just being silly about it.

Technically she was old enough to be his mother, and worse had in fact helped raise him as a baby, but that was really a topic best left buried although Jack had once teased her by placing a copy of Oedipus Rex on her desk at home.

'How vulgar, especially in front of the children' Sofia Lamb commented disparagingly when Tenenbaum relented and she and Jack shared a more passionate kiss and embrace.

'Keep your .38 with you and don't hesitate to shoot that women if your instincts tell you to' Jack advised Tenenbaum.

Eleanor had retrieved her helmet, other than the frighteningly long and sharp needle fitted to the left arm of her suit her only weapons were herself and the plasmids she contained. 'Come on Mr B' she said to Jack. 'Don't be a slowpoke.'

'Don't start with that nonsense' Jack replied. The bathysphere which would take them to the Welcome Center complex of the city below was ready to go and he bade Eleanor to climb aboard. 'Ladies first' he said.

'If you happen to find yourself near Olympus Heights could you perhaps bring me back the locket I once told you about' Tenenbaum asked Jack, leaning in as close as she could so only he could hear. 'I never got the chance to collect it myself.'

'Only if you promise to put my picture in it' Jack whispered back.

Tenenbaum frowned. 'But my other lovers would surely object' she deadpanned.

'Well I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings' Jack replied. 'Without them you'd have worn me out years ago' he told her with a wink.

'Are we planning to leave any time soon?' Eleanor asked loudly from inside the bathysphere, her voice echoing from the chamber.

Jack sighed. 'If she says "Are we there yet" so much as _once_ during the trip down I'll send her straight back up here with a tanned hide' he told Tenenbaum.

'Oh liebchen' Tenenbaum responded. 'We both know that I'm the one that keeps discipline in our house while the girls twist you around their little fingers' she said sweetly.

'One of these days Brigid, one of these days' Jack replied raising a clenched fist, his voice making it perhaps the worst Jackie Gleason impression of all time. 'Pow, splash, straight to the bottom of the ocean' he vowed, tongue held firmly in cheek.

Tenenbaum giggled, she wasn't too old for that at least she thought to herself. Now don't go thinking you can avoid paying to put the girls through college by staying down there.'

'Mental note' Jack said to himself, 'loot'. What he had brought back to the surface with him last time had been enough to establish him and the girls and he now had a steady income thanks to several patents on his "inventions" but this was at least an opportunity to make his family more financially secure he realised.

Eleanor stuck her head back out of the Bathysphere. 'What is taking so long?' she wanted to know.

'I blame her impatience on her father' Sofia Lamb said. 'There is nothing worse than an indulged, spoiled daddy's girl' she opined, crossing her arms.

The younger of the Lamb women narrowed her eyes. 'Doctor Tenenbaum, if you _do_ end up shooting my mother I won't hold it against you' she said, pulling her head back into the bathysphere.

'Time for us to go I think' Jack said, giving Tenenbaum a quick kiss on the cheek. 'Just don't try to sneak any more daughters on me while I've gone' he told her before climbing into the bathysphere himself.

Next stop hell, partially frozen over.

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_Hope you're enjoying the story so far. I've got quite a number of Fics on the go at present but if you like this one then reviews are a good way to try and encourage new chapters of it ;-)_


	3. Chapter 3

_I don't own Bioshock, no infringement is intended and no profit is to be made. When you get right down to it I'm not really worth suing anyway unless you want a share of an underpaid civil servants wages and it just wouldn't be worth the hassle trust me._

_

* * *

_

**Approaching Rapture – Atlantic Ocean – December 1968**

Jack Ryan had been strangely quiet during their journey down from the surface, Eleanor's impression so far being that he wasn't generally a laconic man. The bathysphere was fairly cramped between the two of them with Eleanor's suit not helping but despite their close proximity it was almost like he wasn't there with her, at least not in spirit.

Eleanor watched Jack as he looked out of the porthole, his expression not changing so much as one iota when the great city finally came into view. The marvels of its appearance seemed to wash over him without effect as if he was as immune to wonder as he was apparently immune to the usual side-effects of excessive ADAM use.

'Fucking place is even bigger than I remembered' Jack said eventually before turning back away from the towers towards Eleanor. 'I hope you know where you're going because I only know my way around a fraction of this place' he told her, fingers subconsciously tightening around the grip of his Thompson SMG.

'Don't worry I've memorised all the maps of the city' Eleanor replied.

'If you mean the official maps I do know that smugglers and rebels added a few extra tunnels and routes around' Jack replied.

'The Family scouted most of those for Mother' Eleanor replied. 'In any case the route I've planned mostly relies upon the regular passageways.'

'They're not flooded are they?' Jack checked.

'No, for one thing the Big Daddies actually repaired a lot of the damage that resulted from your last visit' Eleanor told him. 'One of Mother's priorities was repairs once she managed to obtain control, if you offer splicers a little ADAM as a reward for undertaking a task they're quite hard working really, if undisciplined.'

Jack looked out of the porthole again. 'Will we be going anywhere near Olympus Heights?' he asked.

'We can do, it's only a short diversion off our path because we will be travelling through Apollo Square as the cities main transportation hub' Eleanor replied. 'Mother managed to get a few of the old Metro Lines running again which will save us some time crossing the city' she said. 'Of course we'll have to _get_ to Apollo Square first' she admitted.

'Did she manage to get the trains to run on time too?' Jack asked, amused by his own wit. 'Isn't that the mark of a good dictator?'

'So the cliché goes I believe' Eleanor replied, looking away from him. 'You know she only meant well' she said.

'My father would have likely observed at this point that some of the worst crimes against humanity resulted from an attempt at altruism' Jack replied. 'Or you might say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.'

'You agree with your father?' Eleanor queried in surprise.

'He wasn't always wrong on everything' Jack replied, 'at the other end of the scale your Mother was probably right occasionally too' he said. 'The problem is that real life is so much messier than the ideological purists like to think it is' he opined. 'Libertarians are very much like Marxists in one respect' he continued, 'neither of them let the facts get in the way of a good theory' he told her smiling. 'Incidentally if we make it back to the surface I'm going to love to see how your mother deals with Hippy counter-culture' he added, smile becoming a grin.

'Hippy?' Eleanor queried.

'Sort of a youth-movement' Jack explained, 'lots of free-love, acceptance of recreational drug use and a suspicion of the established order' he said. 'They also protest a lot about the Vietnam War and seem averse to haircuts.'

Eleanor frowned realising that she would have a lot t learn about the surface world when she got there.

'Actually the last few years have been pretty good overall' Jack remarked. 'Mankind has been to space, I guess my father would have been pleased that the first was Russian while pissed-off he was Soviet' he said. 'Civil Rights are improving in the South, living standards are going up, there's some really great music and movies these days and until my daughters started to want to wear them too I thought miniskirts were just fantastic' he told her.

'Miniskirts?' Eleanor asked, intrigued.

Jack appraised her. 'You've got the legs for them' he decided, tall thin girls were the current vogue in fashion. 'They say a good miniskirt is like a good speech, it should be long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting' he joked. 'Nearly there' he noted, checking his sub-machinegun again, shouldering it for a moment to look down the sights.

'You'd better let me go first' Eleanor advised, starting to put on her helmet.

'Like hell sweetheart' Jack responded as the bathysphere finally edged towards its final destination, an airlock opening to allow it entry to the city.

'You haven't been in Rapture for some time' Eleanor argued. 'A few things have changed.'

'I'm the adaptable type and I do well under pressure' Jack replied. 'All kinds of pressure' he added as the airlock closed and the water was pumped out to allow them to finish their sightseeing trip and dock. 'Ah, the city where the artist need not fear the censor but everyone has to fear the deranged artist' he said wryly as they came into dock and he pulled the lever that would open the bathysphere. 'Always regretted not keeping that photograph I took of Cohen's corpse' he said. 'Maybe I should have mounted it on that hideous quadtych monstrosity turning it into a nicely ironic quintych instead' he said to himself regretfully as he climbed out.

The place was almost exactly as Jack remembered, memories flooding back to him as he looked around. 'Fontaine, if your spirit haunts this place then would you kindly kiss my ass' he said, pulling back the cocking handle of his Thompson with a satisfying "click, clack".

'He does sort of' Eleanor announced, following Jack out of the bathysphere and standing beside him.

'Say what?' Jack replied.

'I don't mean as in a _real_ ghost or anything' Eleanor told him. 'All the ADAM and Plasmids he absorbed' she began then paused, 'well some of the splicers recovered it all from his corpse after you left and I assume you know from your own plasmids that sometimes memories stick with them so...'

'There are splicers walking around now getting occasional Fontaine flashbacks' Jack finished for her.

'Yes' Eleanor confirmed.

'Echoes in the deep from a source long faded away' Jack said with a sigh. On the plus side I can't say I object to the idea of the bastard's corpse being torn apart as salvage too much he thought to himself. 'Okay, let's go sidekick' he told Eleanor setting off towards the way out.

Eleanor didn't understand what he meant by that and suspected that would happen a lot. 'Sidekick?' she queried, following.

'I'm the hero that makes you the feisty sidekick' Jack explained, setting a quick pace his boots occasionally splashing in shallow puddles of seawater.

'Why can't I be the hero and you be the sidekick?' Eleanor wanted to know.

'Because as yet I'm not aware of Rapture having an active branch of the Women's Liberation Movement' Jack replied, trying not to laugh. 'Hey, someone tidied up' he remarked as they quickly arrived at the staircase up to the entrance lounge. 'Well a little anyway' he added reaching the top of the stairs.

'Like I told you earlier Big Daddies fixed the passage ahead after removing the wreckage of the plane you arrived in the first time and pumped the water back out' Eleanor told him. 'Keeping the main access route into the city open and preventing flooding spreading was set as a high priority for the computer that controls Rapture' she noted. 'If it wasn't for the Big Daddies fixing leaks and patching things up from outside the whole place would have been full of water years ago.'

'Nice to know they actually use those rivet guns for their _intended_ purpose sometimes' Jack replied, turning around and looking up towards the place where he had injected his first plasmid and then promptly fell off the balcony writhing in agonising pain. 'Oh, there's nothing like a fistful of "loighting" is there boyo' he muttered before putting the memory behind him and activating the still faulty door mechanism ahead the same way as last time.

All the flood damage had ruined the carpets and soft furnishings and they still smelled damp and squelched underfoot because of a few small scale leaks past the patches and repairs but it could have been a lot worse, Jack thought, because he wasn't apparently at imminent risk of drowning and as yet they had yet to encounter any splicers.

'Ladies first' Jack bade Eleanor when they arrived at the elevator which would take them up to the level of the Kashmir restaurant.

Eleanor rolled her eyes at him and looking upwards towards the right floor suddenly vanished in a cloud of purple particles only to reappear on the walkway high above almost instantly. 'I'll wait here for you to catch up shall I?' she called down to Jack. Sidekick my arse she thought to herself smugly.

'Part Houdini splicer, all sass' Jack muttered to himself, getting into the elevator and pushing the button. By the time he arrived at the right floor she was leaning back against a nearby wall checking her oversized syringe nonchalantly.

'Wasting EVE just to show off isn't big or clever' Jack chided her.

'You just needed reminding that I'm not a helpless little girl' Eleanor replied, 'we're more likely to start running into people from now on, perhaps it _should_ be ladies first after all?' she suggested sweetly, sounding suitably superior with her educated, upper-class accent aiding in that.

Jack ignored her and walked past Eleanor towards the restaurant. They all started out so nice but for some reason they hit thirteen or so and started talking back he thought with annoyance. 'Damn kids' he muttered.

Eleanor smirked and followed him. 'Mr Bubbles, Mr Bubbles, are you there? Are you there?' she began to sing. 'Come and give me lollies...'

'Very funny' Jack interrupted her mid-verse, his tone even with his deep voice indicating he thought it was anything but as he arrived at the door to the restaurant and kicked it open. 'If there's anyone in here I suggest you get the hell out of our way because I'm in a mood to wrench someone' he declared loudly.

'You're much louder and more talkative than I expected you to be in real life' Eleanor commented as he stomped into the restaurant.

'I found out from Brigid that when I was very little and had only just learned to talk I babbled so much that I was told "Would you kindly only speak when spoken to" and I didn't fully manage to shake that until a few months after the mental conditioning was removed' Jack explained.

Eleanor nodded her understanding. 'In fact I think I'd describe you as rather loquacious' she told him, looking around for danger but so-far the restaurant seemed quiet too.

'My Big Sister what a big vocabulary you have' Jack replied, smiling as he moved through the restaurant towards the stairs, his SMG shouldered and ready.

'All the better for confusing you with I'm sure' Eleanor responded hoping that didn't make her sound as condescending as Mother tended to before she heard something which caught her attention. 'Company' she whispered.

'Well I have been missing the joys of adult conversation' Jack responded quietly.

'I'm older than _you_ are' Eleanor retorted before vanishing again, teleporting away in a purple haze.

'Grounding her would be very difficult' Jack decided just as a splicer carrying a piece of old pipe as a weapon appeared in front of him, brandishing the improvised, clumsy weapon as if it was Excalibur or something.

'Hello little fish' the splicer greeted Jack, laughing manically

'If you take a closer look you'll see I'm a great big shark with a great big gun' Jack replied, aiming his Thompson at the splicers chest. The habit of these lemming-like idiots to attack a clearly better-armed opponent had never ceased to amaze him.

The splicer looked at Jack intently for a moment seeing the tattoos on his wrists, eyes widening behind his opera mask as he did so. 'No wait you're...' he began before a broadsword-like syringe erupted from his belly having slammed into him from behind. The splicer screamed and struggled against the metal impaling him as he was lifted off his feet and hung there twitching like a gaffed fish.

Eleanor threw her arm around sending the splicer hurtling away to land in a bloody heap some distance away. 'Who's next?' she asked nobody in particular, unfazed by what she had just done.

'You could have at least put the poor bastard out of his misery' Jack complained, aiming at the maimed splicer and firing a short burst into his head. It was a messy but merciful end.

The sound of the shots echoed away. 'They'll hear that' Eleanor told Jack disapprovingly.

'Those screams would have carried pretty far already' Jack replied, turning the dead splicer over with his foot and bending down to rifle though his pockets. 'Only ten bucks' Jack complained, pocketing it himself. 'Ah, an EVE hypo' he added more happily, dropping it into his satchel before standing up again. 'So where now?' he asked.

'We need to head to Neptune's Bounty and from there we can take a bathysphere to Arcadia and then catch the Metro Tram to Apollo Square' Eleanor told him.

Jack feigned to wipe away a tear. 'Sorry' he apologised, 'little touch of nostalgia for the old days' he said.

'Neptune's Bounty and Arcadia are bound to have a lot of splicers there' Eleanor warned. 'Almost all the food in the city comes from those sections so they were never abandoned, even during the worst of times.'

'Everybody has to eat I suppose' Jack reasoned. 'I guess we can't just go around them?' he checked.

'It would add hours to our journey' Eleanor advised him. 'We can if you want' she offered.

Jack considered that. 'I think I'd rather get this over and done with quickly before my sanity returns' he replied eventually, heading off towards Neptune's Bounty.

'That's the spirit as Mother would say' Eleanor replied brightly.

'No, this is' Jack stated, snatching up a bottle of Lacan Scotch with his free hand, pulling out the stopper with his teeth and spitting it out before downing the equivalent of a double in one hit. 'Ah, the ever reliable Booze Hound gene tonic' he said with satisfaction, feeling better already.

'I'd better drive the bathysphere' Eleanor decided as she watched him take a second gulp from the whiskey bottle.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Well they've finally got back to Rapture and the adventure begins in earnest. You've probably noticed that as well as Rapture canon I'm trying to work in references to the 1960's US that Jack has been living in, by 1968 it was very far removed from the quasi 1940's stasis of Rapture which I thought would make for a good source of culture-clash. Hope you're enjoying the story so far._

_Reviews are always welcome :-) _


End file.
